500 Days of Summer

Sometimes, love does not work out. Despite what countless films that fall under the genre of “romantic comedy”, the relationship between two seemingly perfect matches that an audience invests a couple of hours of their time in will not always work out in the end. It is a harsh lesson the real world knows all to well. It is a lesson 500 Days of Summer dishes out from the outset of a romantic comedy that obviously never heard it was supposed to follow a hackneyed formula to a blissful cinematic end.

With the outcome of the relationship out of the way, the film simultaneously reconstructs and deconstructs the relationship between Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel) in an attempt to understand what went wrong between these seemingly perfectly matched characters. In another nod towards real life, the mystery is never really solved but the journey of attempted discovery is a joy to watch.

Though a little gimmicky at times, the story incorporates quite a few cinematic tricks along the way to highlight how sweet and wonderful Tom and Summer seemed to be for each other. The sugary perfection is so intense, the cavity it develops in Tom’s soul when the relationship ends exposes a raw nerve that he is never quite able to numb. It is over-the-top but grounded in genuine human emotion.

It is this authenticity along with some quirky humor and the performances of Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel that makes the film a delight even though the outcome of the romance is pre-ordained to failure. Love might end but life moves on, sometimes without any sort of explanation or closure. It is a cruel lesson but one that rings true for real life long betrayed by the common and stale romantic comedy that 500 Days of Summer rises well above.